Jon Dixon

Acting

As Jon Glentoran, I was an actor for twenty years. Acting, at least in theatre, is an ephemeral thing; once the play closes there is nothing left of the performance but a few photos and yellowing newspaper cuttings. Nevertheless, here are some glimpses of the 100+ productions I was in during those years, as well as some more recent projects I’ve been involved in. These are just a few of the people I briefly became in front of the camera or beneath the stage-lights...

Those of you aware of the movie game 'Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon' might like to know that I currently have a Bacon number of 2 (if you count TV shows). My IMDB page suggests that I am best known for 'Back Of The Head', which seems unlikely. My name is often spelled wrong in credits. I am the only actor who has never appeared in 'The Bill' **this may be a lie..

“Our Revels now are ended. These our actors As I foretold you, were all spirits And are melted into air, into thin air...” — William Shakespeare
(The Tempest, Act 4 Scene 1)

Illustration

Alongside my acting career I developed a sideline as an artist, illustrator and designer, tending to specialise in science-fiction, fantasy and horror subjects. Here's a few examples of work I've produced for such clients as TSR, Games Workshop, Armada Books, Pan Books and Wizards Of The Coast as well as for my own enjoyment and as individual commissions. I use everything from traditional pencil and pen and ink through paint and canvas to the digital medium of graphics tablet and screen.

“Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep.” — Scott Adams

Music

I've always enjoyed playing music and I've been in several bands over the years as well as playing in scratch bands put together for theatre shows. These included 'Little Shop of Horrors' and 'The Cabaret Of Doctor Caligari' for the London Bubble and 'Buddy Holly At The Regal' for the New Vic Theatre Of London (as one of The Crickets).

Until a few years ago I played in a great little band called Shining Examples, playing mostly original compositions influenced by blues, soul and americana. The songs were written by the talented Steve Mitchell, who writes and performs in New Zealand now as Humankindness. Check out his music - it's fantastic. The other talented musicians that made up Shining Examples were Keith Gotheridge, Bern Mitchell and Gregg Pinchess. Shining Examples are no more, sadly, but I'm still creating music occasionally at home using my old Tascam US-122 Mk II computer/audio interface. Some examples of these home recordings can be listened to below.

Need Your Love So Bad

My attempt at this classic song by Mertis John Jr. and Little Willie John, and in particular the brilliant Peter Green / Fleetwood Mac take on it. All vocals and instruments are me except for the drums which are Garageband loops.

Stormy Monday

The classic T-Bone Walker composition, made famous by the Allman Brothers Band. Another work in progress - nowhere near a final mix, 'first take' guide vocal only and I'm not very happy with the ending! On the way though...

Wicked Game

The marvellous Chris Isaak song. Work in progress again - the vocals need re-recording with a better mic. And a better performance! And I couldn't replicate the lovely whammy bar swoop at the beginning as I played this on my Les Paul.

Soulshine

Work in progress version of another Allman Brothers song, written by the great Warren Haynes. I still need to add the second guitar solo and play out to the ending. Vocals, bass and both guitar parts on this track are me.

House On The Hill

Very quick and dirty Garageband mix of one of my own compositions... A stock Garageband drum loop for now with bass and guitar(s) played by me. Vocals sung straight into the onboard mic of my laptop!

Sweet Little Mystery

I've always loved this brilliant John Martyn song. Very much work-in-progress with real tweaking or balancing on it yet. Still needs a bit of bass and possibly some guitar creeping in over the last couple of choruses...

Someone I Left Behind

Another of my songs, this time a grungy, swampy blues drone about regret and lost love. I was going for an early Fleetwood Mac feel on this with a very raw guitar sound. My favourite bit of the song is the very last chord!

The old Shining Examples site can be found here, although it's a historic website only now. Steve Mitchell's new band and lots of his his music can be found here at Humankindness.

“I play a Les Paul, he plays a Strat, listen to the album and figure it out for yourself.” — Duane Allman, asked what his contribution to the 'Layla' album was.

Writing

As well as illustrating Fantasy and SF I've also dabbled in writing over the years; after all, writing and illustrating are both ways of giving an objective, external form to internalised imaginings. I've written SF, Fantasy and Horror, and occasionally been lucky enough to have been published. I was one of the authors to have a story appear in the legendary 'Pan Book of Horror Stories' series, something which pleased me enormously as those books had a huge effect on me when I was younger. I also had a story in a later homage to those books - 'Back From The Dead: The Legacy of the Pan Book of Horror Stories'. Here are those two stories as well as some other examples of my writing, some complete and as finished as they'll ever be and some excerpts from works-in-progress.

The Surgeon's Tale

Originally published in The Pan Book of Horror Stories Vol 29This story disturbed me so much (still does!) that I held off sending it out to potential publishers for some time. Ironically, though, when I did it was accepted almost by return of post. It was my first sale and I was paid the princely sum of £250.

Danforth reached forward and threw another log on to the fire, making sparks dance through the smoke. He lit his pipe, which had gone out during the climax of the previous story.

'Yes,' he said. 'Strange, the will to live. When I was a practicing surgeon I saw many cases where the patient's survival instinct pulled them through injuries and trauma which you would have thought inevitably fatal...'

Originally published in Back From The Dead: The Legacy of the Pan Book of Horror StoriesA bleak exercise in urban gothic, this is a story ostensibly about vampires, but really about secrets and the yearning for the dark that I suspect lies within all of us, more or less well-hidden.

Big Jackie was only thirty yards from the security of the brightly lit main street when he first heard the footsteps. Three yards later he half-turned in surprise. Ten yards after that he was dead.

He lay on his back in the narrow alley, surrounded by the scattered contents of the four carrier-bags that were all his worldly possessions, blindly staring up at the scudding clouds. The night sky was the colour of a bruise...

UnpublishedThe 'winter' story from a planned suite of four stories representing the four seasons, 'Wolfwind' is about redemption after loneliness and long estrangement. The original desire was to write a werewolf story where the werewolf was the 'hero'. It placed in the quarter-finals of the 'Writers of the Future' competition some years ago.

The mid-winter darkness had crept into the town early, and lanterns had been lit in the market square before noon. Now, as true night fell, their tinted parchment panes cast subtle shifting colours diffused by falling snow over the crowds below, highlighting a face in smoky orange there, casting a dim turquoise shadow there, gleaming off bright brass, sparking emerald and ruby twinkles from jars and bottles and giving the market place the hazy, unreal quality of a dream...

UnpublishedThis was the first 'real' story I ever wrote and it won a local writing competition. In hindsight, the story is incredibly naive in its arguments, and some of the attitudes expressed and character relationships are, to put it generously, unsophisticated. But I have some affection for it - it was the first and it was hard work!

“To me, the greatest pleasure of writing is not what it's about, but the inner music that words make.” — Truman Capote

UX Design

Since 1998, I've been working firstly as a graphic designer and latterly in the wider field of user experience - encompassing user centred design, usability, accessibility, information architecture and interaction design. I currently work as one of the senior Interaction Designers at Bunnyfoot. Here are just a few of the things I've worked on recently both for Bunnyfoot and in my own capacity.

“You know you have achieved perfection in design, not when you have nothing more to add, but when you have nothing more to take away.” — Antoine de Saint-Exupery

About

Some of my other loves

Cats

Bailey and Coco are female bengal cats who live with me. We've never quite worked out who owns who, which is fine. Coco (brown spotted) is sedentary and very chatty, living pretty much for food and tummy rubs. Bailey (snow marble) is highly-strung, hyperactive, and a bit mad. Both of them are affectionate, beautiful and wonderful company.

Chickens

At the bottom of my garden live three two chickens - Hetty (#000) RIP, Harriet (#666) and Hortense (#fff). They are now dignified and sedate old ladies and have all but stopped laying, but still provide me many hours of amusement and delight, particularly when I hang up a sweetcorn cob and referee a game of 'chicken swingball'.

Cars

I discovered my inner petrolhead quite late in life, and a few years back I was able to acquire my dream car, a Porsche 928. My S4, first registered in 1988, is nearly half my age at just over a quarter of a century old and is wholly impractical, horribly un-green and I love it to bits every time I start it up and hear that 5 litre V8 rumble into life.

Gardening

I've always loved gardening and when I moved into my current house I spent a lot of time turning the rather neglected garden into a place that I hope is both productive and beautiful. It's taken about five years but it's been worth it. I grow most of my own fruit and vegetables in the summer - everything from cabbages, peas, beans and tomatoes to raspberries, strawberries and apples.

(SF) Movies

I'm an unreserved cinephile. I love movies of all genres and eras and hardly ever run across a film I couldn't find something to enjoy in. But my real love has always been the films that reflect my love of science fiction - from 'Metropolis' to 'Stalker' to 'Star Trek'. Top of my list, though, is 'Blade Runner', to the point where my obsession has led me to begin a bit of a replica prop collection!

Guitars

I bought my first guitar in the mid-70s - an Antoria Les Paul copy (closely followed by another Antoria EB bass copy). I still have the bass after all these years, although sadly the Les Paul was traded in years ago (for a 12-string acoustic I think). Among my far too many guitars currently are a 1987 Les Paul and a Fender Stratocaster, as well as a Vintage Strat and Les Paul 'Peter Green' copy.

Books

I've always lived surrounded by books, almost to a fault - I'm constantly running out of room on the bookshelves on almost every wall of my house! I find it hard to let a book go, and to be fair I've read and re-read most of the books (fiction and non-fiction) in the house several times as well as acquiring more month by month. I've usually got at least two books on the go at any one time.

Cooking

As someone who's lived alone for most of their life, I've always been aware that if I didn't cook for myself I'd be living exclusively on packaged food and toast! Luckily I discovered early on that I love to cook. I always try to cook from scratch when I get in from work, however late it is... but I especially enjoy cooking for friends and family whenever the opportunity arises.